Winter wheat yield trial on a site with surface crusting

This data is from the Rucker Farm between Arlington and Condon (Shutler Flat). It was a winter wheat nursery planted on September 6, 1997. This is a site that is very prone to surface crusting from even tiny amounts of rain between planting and emergence. Soil was too dry for proper emergence last fall, and the surface began to crust before emergence. Most of the entries had still not emerged by October 21, at which time the farmer was replanting the surrounding field and others. Coleoptiles were just starting to extend for some entries, and most of them had not fan-folded yet. We let our experiment continue to see if it would generate useful information related to a variety's ability to yield under these combined stresses.

Uniformity of stand establishment was rated on January 29, 1998. Several varieties were notable for relatively uniform stands in at least three or four of the five reps. These entries were considered "better than average"; including Eltan, Gene, Hiller, Rely, W301, and 92CL0007. Other entries were definitely "poorer than average", with most reps having patchy stands; they included MacVicar, Rohde, 92CL003, 92CL0012, 92CL0054, 92CL0079. There was very little disease (late emergence = "delayed planting" effect) or lodging. Yields ranged from 34 to 67 bu/ac. The yield on the surrounding field, replanted on October 21, was 40 bu/ac. Our decision to "stick it out" with the original planting appeared to be the more profitable gamble this particular year.

Trial was conducted by Dick Smiley, Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center